Lowering a temperature of a mammal, such as a human, (hypothermia) to 31-34 degrees C. can be beneficial during times of critical care. Examples of these situations include, but are not limited to, myocardial infarction and cardiac arrest, stroke, and infantile asphyxia. Hypothermic outcomes are improved when therapy is initiated as soon as possible after the initial onset of the affliction in order to mitigate or prevent the affliction's damaging effects. Current hypothermic therapy technology is hospital based as available systems require a large refrigeration unit to circulate a cooling fluid in specialized mats covering the patient while the unit closely regulates the patient's temperature. Precise thermal regulation is required in these systems to promote effective cooling while also limiting its side effects such as frost bite/tissue damage, electrolyte changes, hypotension, and infection.
There is often an inherent delay in starting hypothermic therapy from the time of symptom presentation to cooling induction as the patient must be transported to the hospital, the refrigeration unit needs to be set up, and the cooling mats placed. As noted above, delay in initiating therapy decreases effectiveness, and currently available systems for the initiation of hypothermia outside of a hospital setting include the use of cold saline IV infusion or ice packs placed on the patient. Both of these currently available procedures lack temperature control to provide regulation of the thermal therapy, are difficult to initiate in the field (need for an IV, ambulance refrigerator, etc.), and are difficult to provide consistent therapy across patients.